Give Thanks To Who? New US Coins Hide "In God We Trust"

Raiders News Network ^ | Nov 22nd, 2006 | Jet in Columbus

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Commemoratives are legal tender.
Only a few have ever been released at face value however.
(Unsold Isabella quarters were dumped into circulation in 1893 for example.
The State Quarters are circulating commemoratives.)
And many early commemoratives were put in circulation during the Depression when their owners were short of cash.
If the price of gold and silver ever fell below face value, you would see them circulate.

[Kirkwood]

Go see what they make at the US mint webpage. These are investment coins, although they are easy to turn back into cash. Congress authorized the sale of $50 gold bullion American Eagle coins back in 1986. They list from $885 down to $85. They also have plantinum and silver American Eagles.

The $50 American Buffalo 24 K gold coins authorized in 2005 are really nice for $800. There is also a SF mint $5 gold coin for $255

[Ruth A.]

Not here in Hawaii.

[mkjessup]

I imagine that by 2016, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and possibly George the Elder will be available under the guidelines. But yes, it looks like they don't want to skip any to get Reagan in.

In the interest of historical accuracy, perhaps they could include an arrangement of random flames, fire and brimstone surrounding Jimmah's image?

[MarkL]

The workaround was to set the price per gallon to half of the sales price, then multiply the displayed total price by 2 to get the amount you owed the gas station.

I remember that some stations in KC changed their pumps so that they metered gasoline by the quart, rather than by the gallon. And one enterprising station decided to try selling gasoline by the liter... That lasted less than a week!

Mark

[shekkian]

I'd guess those would be bullion pieces, like the Eagles and gold Buffalos. If they were made as currency they would be smaller than dimes.

[stylin19a]

i suppose they could, probably easier to get rid of, but it seems like it would be a pain in the butt.

[R. Scott]

Of course we could drop the $1 and $2 bills, and let there be overlap with both $5 bill and coin.

Dropping the $1 bill sounds good to me, but I’d like the $2 bill to start circulating again, and the nickel to hang around for a few more years. A penny isn’t worth bending over to pick up.

[Don Joe]

How quaint.

Reminds me of the only OTHER coin I've seen that uses that kind of edge-stamping. Guess what country it is that uses that style?

MEXICO!

[sittnick]

In the interest of historical accuracy, perhaps they could include an arrangement of random flames, fire and brimstone surrounding Jimmah's image?

Actually, since the dollar bill in Jimmy's time was sometimes referred to as "The J.C. Penny" (due to lost value from inflation) I thought it might be nice to make the Jimmy Carter dollar coin the same weight and size as a penny, and make it worth as much.

[sittnick]

You let the machine do the rounding, just as calculators do.

I'm sure that NCR, Casio and any other cash register companies would like that plan! When I worked at Pizza Hut back in the early '80's, I ignored the stupid readout and counted change back to the customer properly. The adults knew what I was doing, the other adolescents didn't quite get it.

[Paleo Conservative]

William Henry Harrison gets a coin but Reagan does not!

There are still a couple of living ex-presidents who are ahead of him in the order. By 2016 it is probable one or both would be dead for at least two years. It wouldn't surprise me if 1-4 ex-presidents get added to the list for 2016.

[Atlas Sneezed]

>>The folks at the Taco Bell who can barely give change when the register tells them the amount will have a devil of a time rounding (in either direction) with the elimination of pennies.

There is no rounding involved. Prices would be in tenth dollars, as would totals. Cash registers already do the rounding to the nearest cent for sales tax purposes. Eliminating a digit would AID the slower cashiers.

>>Convenience stores and some other places use penny cups, that work out well.

No, that is the evidence that pennies are of so little value, they are a waste of time.

>>I'll believe that a penny is insignificant when gas stations no longer charge to the tenth of a penny.

They post the price in tenths, but you are always charged by rounding to the nearest penny. Under a properly reformed system, you would be charged for your ~$50 tank to the nearest tenth. So what? When a penny of gas moves your 25 mpg car by 500 feet, it's time to loosen up.

The nickle was worth what the half cent was worth when it was eliminated. Or do you miss that, too, because the penny is just too darn valuable?

[toddlintown]

Would you rather have 50 $1 bills in your pocket or 50 $1 coins?

So stupid and such a waste.

[Atlas Sneezed]

I'm sure that NCR, Casio and any other cash register companies would like that plan!

---

What makes you think that cash registers don't already round to the nearest cent?

[toddlintown]

"Parking meters are long gone in many cities."

Really? Tell that to Chicago.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Would you rather have 50 $1 bills in your pocket or 50 $1 coins?

So stupid and such a waste.

---

Both are stupid. I'm not a stripper or a valet parking attendant. I'd rather have two twenties, and two $5 coins.

Back to a real world example: You have $36.94 in your pocket (under the silly old penny system we have now.) If you have perfectly arranged to have the minimum possible number of coins and bills, you still have 9 coins and 7 bills. In the real world of making purchases and change, you'd be wasting lots of time and effort (and annoying people in line behind you) to try to keep such an optimal distribution.

Now, under my system (coins are .10 .50 $1 $5) I'd have 5 coins and 7 bills, or or 6 coins and 6 bills, or even just 13 coins (only 4 different types.) Unless I need something more than the price of lunch, I'm reaching into one pocket, and paying, getting change in a useful form.

The big difference is when you make several transactions.

Let's say we each start with a $100 in our pockets. Then, we make several purchases: $2.78/$2.8 coffee, $1.07/$1.1 newspaper, $11.36/$11.4 lunch, $31.14/$31.1 DVD, $22.55/$22.6 dinner.

Now, if my time is valuable under the current system, I don't dig into my coin pocket for each purchase, like a poky old man. I pull out the bills, and stuff the change in my pocket for a later chore. During the day, I get change of .22 (4 coins), .93 (8 coins), .64 (7 coins), .86 (6 coins), and .45 (3 coins). That's 28 coins, assuming you don't ferret in your pocket to spend some of these for subsequent transactions.

Under my system, the number of coins you get in change if you don't spend any is actually greater (due to the example I picked.) But the big difference is that it is easy to reach in the pocket, and choose between only two coin types to make exact change the the last three transactions. Better still, if I am using a dollar coin (now three types in my pocket, unlike your 4 types) I can sometimes avoid pulling out my wallet. If I add a $5 coin, I rarely need to pull out the wallet, making me faster still.

Never mind that the line moves faster because of the efficiency of the system.

[toddlintown]

"the efficiency of the system"

You have too much free time.

[sittnick]

They don't round to the nearest dime. Gee you want to get rid of nickles, too? I think you are going to have to found your own country. The difference between the 1/2 penny and the penny and nickle is that these are useful measurements to have in any decimal system. One big gripe that I would have about dollar coins (which are worth what quarters were in the '70s) is that dollars are whole numbers (whereas non-dollar coins are fractions of a dollar), and fit in very neatly in the cash drawer with fives, tens and twenties. You might think that people are happy to move over the decimal point. They are not. I love to stump my Canadian friends by asking them what a decimeter is. They cannot remember if it is a tenth of a meter, or ten meters. It is never used. Hence, the too small centimeter and the too large meter wind up doing double and triple duty. (Moreover, the mind does not visualize tenths as easily as quarters or eights).

Anyway, this ultimately comes down to a matter of opinion, and for now, the over-whelming opinion is for dollar bills, nickles and even pennies. By all means, try to change minds. But please, do not support a measure that would "force acceptance" in this democratic Republic. Jimmy Carter tried to do that with metric and the results were awful. (The results of a half-successful coercion in Canada are very awful).

[Kirkwood]

"Not here in Hawaii."

???
I have no idea what this means.